"Then I shall defray his expense and pay him for his time; but if we're going at all, dear--" At a sign of the eyes from Larry Strangways I mastered my wrath at this insolence, and spoke meekly: "I didn't know we were going anywhere in particular." "And you'll excuse me, Mr. Brokenshire," our visitor interrupted, "if I say that I can't be dismissed in this way by any one but Miss Adare herself. You must remember she isn't your wife--that she's still a free agent. Perhaps, if I explain the matter a little further--" Hugh put up his hand in stately imitation of his father. "Please! There's no need of that." "Oh, but there is, Hugh!" "You see," Mr. Strangways reasoned, "it's more than a question of making money. We shall make money, of course; but that's only incidental. What I'm really asking Miss Adare to do is to help one of the most glorious causes to which mankind has ever given itself--" I started toward him impulsively. "Oh! Do you feel like that?" "Not like that; that's all I feel. I live it! I've no other thought." It was curious to see how the force of this all-absorbing topic swept Hugh away from the merely personal standpoint. "And you call yourself an American?" he demanded, hotly. "I call myself a man. I don't emphasize the American. This thing transcends what we call nationality." Hugh shouted, somewhat in the tone of a man kicking against the pricks: "Not what I call nationality! It's got nothing to do with us." "Ah, but it will have something to do with us! It isn't merely a European struggle; it's a universal one. Sooner or later you'll see mankind divided into just two camps." Hugh warmed to the discussion. "Even if we do, it still doesn't follow that we'll all be in your camp." "That depends on whether we're among those driving forward or those kicking back. The American people has been in the first of these classes hitherto; it remains to be seen whether or not it's there still. But if it isn't as a nation I can tell you that some of us will be there as individuals." Hugh's tone was one of horror. "You mean that you'd go and fight?" "That's about the size of it." "Then you'd be a traitor to your country for getting her into trouble." "If I had to choose between being a traitor to my country and a traitor to my manhood I'd take the first. Fortunately, no such alternative will be thrust upon us. Miss Adare pointed out to me once that there couldn't be two right courses, each opposed to the other. Right and rights must be harmonious. If I'm true to myself I'm true to my country; and I can't be true to my country unless I do my 'bit,' as the phrase begins to go, for the good of the human race." "And you're really going?" I asked, breathlessly.